The new Apple TV could solve the biggest frustration of watching television at …

On Thursday I came to grips with the new touchpad remote and chatting to Siri, but for many people the most exciting thing about the fourth-generation Apple TV is the appearance of the App Store.Consumers for years have had to wrestle with a bewildering array of set-up boxes, cords and television ports to get all of the online shows that they want to watch on the biggest screens in their homes.BOSTON, Oct. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Strategy Analytics’ just published iOS apps forecast predicts the Apple iOS App Store will reach nearly $30bn in revenue by 2021.

It’s still early days, but access to more apps has the potential to overcome many of the limitations of the old Apple TV3 as well as bringing casual gaming to the big screen. No single TV device, for instance, easily plays content from Amazon Online Video and iTunes — the video offerings from Amazon and Apple which happen to be vying with each other for dominance in the living room. While Apple hails it as the “future of TV,” the word from early reviews of the streaming puck indicate that the Apple TV holds plenty of potential, but isn’t quite revolutionary. The snowboarding game will be making its debut on Apple’s set-top box soon after the device starts shipping, and will feature support for both the included Siri remote and third-party controllers. (The iOS version, meanwhile, has also been updated with controller support.) It’ll be a universal app, so that you’ll only need to buy it once on either iOS or Apple TV, and will include support for iCloud saves, so you can share progress with the iPhone and iPad versions of the game. Alto’s Adventure first launched on iOS in February, and went on to become one of the best titles on the platform in quite some time — a much-anticipated Android version is also in the works.

Siri’s universal search is being lauded by early reviewers as the new Apple TV’s best feature, letting you find content across multiple services without having to remember which one has what, or inadvertently paying to buy or rent content you could stream for free with a subscription. An API will let developers add universal search to their own apps, so presumably other music streaming services could jump on board, like Pandora and Rdio, which both have apps for other set-top boxes such as the Roku and Fire TV.

Most of them are flotsam and jetsam at this point but it shouldn’t take developers long to get onboard now that they no longer need to jump through so many hoops. The hockey puck-sized box offers some cool new features that can be used now — you can search for shows through the voice assistant Siri and a new remote lets you navigate by touch and play games. Tomorrow global content owners Netflix, Hulu, Disney, YouTube, Spotify and others will experience exponential revenue growth fueled by in-app subscription sign-ups.

The story behind the story: When Tim Cook told BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski that Apple would open the universal search API, he said, “It should be very simple.” But as of yet we don’t have a solid idea of how simple developers will find it—in other words, how long users like us will have to wait for more apps to support universal search. The fact that Apple Music, which presumably had a head-start, will need another couple months at the least might mean that “simple” is a bit of a stretch.

Netflix recently allowed in-app sign-up for its service and quickly climbed the ranks of the highest grossing entertainment apps in more than 20 countries. Setting up a streaming box is usually a painful process, but Apple has made it super simple to get started with your new Apple TV: Just put your iPhone running iOS 9.1 with Bluetooth turned on near the TV, and that’s it. “When you install streaming apps like Hulu and Netflix from the App Store, you type in your login credentials by swiping left and right with the remote to select letters of the alphabet one at a time—you have no option to do this by speaking into the microphone or using a keyboard on a smartphone,” Brian X.

Apple TV’s watch-by-apps approach has another benefit — it can be the device that finally pulls together all of those subscriptions, watchlists and movies you’ve randomly downloaded all across the Web. Apple’s continued position as a premium brand, App Store popularity and embedded technology easing in-app payment will contribute to increased sign-ups for subscription services on the iOS platform. For now Apple TV owners have a few apps to choose from – mostly streaming services and games but also a handful of “experience” apps like Airbnb for browsing rentals, Kitchen Stories for cooking tips, Craftsy for tutorials and Zova for exercise – alluding to the Apple TV’s potential as a Wii-style family device.

It will be interesting to see whether, like iOS, some apps are only available in the US – a quick look at the US store already reveals games which aren’t available in Australia. Swiping across a film’s timeline to pinpoint a particular moment, for example, is surprisingly accurate and easy.” “The Apple TV gets the Internet TV remote right by reaching for the same touch-screen feeling that makes the iPhone intuitive to a 2-year-old,” Fowler writes. “The new remote has a glass touchpad on one end that you swipe and tap around with your thumb as if it’s an iPhone. With the freedom to install apps Apple also grants you the ability to reorganise the apps the home screen, plus you can double-click the home button to call up an iOS-style app switcher. Both Apple and Google have pretty clear policies stating that any developer who submits an app that passes store standards can be made available for their devices.

Developers are in various stages of work on their tvOS apps—some are still in progress, others are awaiting Apple’s approval, and early partners like HBO and Netflix are ready to go. As developers get their hands on this thing and spend some real time coming to understand it, I suspect we’re going to see some great stuff coming down the pipeline.” The possibilities for gaming alone are endless, but Brian X.

Chen of the Times found that an app for reading comics on the TV proves that the best tvOS apps don’t have to be games. “I don’t know when, if ever, Apple will reinvent TV,” Mossberg says. “But this isn’t the moment. Amazon spokeswoman said she doesn’t have “anything to share” about a potential Apple TV app or past partnership attempts. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.) In the past, Amazon has been willing to leap into walled gardens, for the sake of the convenience of its customers. But truth be told, iTunes’ selling point has never really been about exclusive content but rather convenience for customers who own its phones, tablets and other devices. Ultimately, if the two companies do not get along, there will be a lot of customers who will be forced to split their libraries or pick one content hub over the other. As entertainment becomes a bigger part of all of these companies’ businesses, it’s possible that consumers will just have to keep dealing with the consequences of corporate clashes in their own living rooms.

You can still take a big swing at the ball and there’s an optional wrist strap, which could be a wise investment if you’re not in the market for a new television. This won’t bother everyone, but it’s another frustration compared to other consoles which generally make it easy for everyone in the house to track their progress and play at their own speed.